Sunday, December 19, 2010

It's now officially Christmas Week, and what better way to spread yuletide holly and joy than with a holiday edition of the Champagne Five!

This edition is my personal top five Christmas themed songs never sung on the Welk show, but I would have loved to heard members of the Musical Family cover.So grab yourself some egg nog, sit under that mistletoe with that special someone and imagine these classics sung by the following....

Saturday, December 11, 2010

December's edition of the Champagne Book of the Month brings you My America, Your America; the third in the collaboration of Lawrence Welk and Bernice McGeehan

First published in 1976, the Maestro talks about how he and members of his Musical Family overcame disadvantages and adversity to reach the level of success in the world of entertainment.

It emphasizes all the traditional, old fashioned values of hard work, commitment, and personal involvement that reflected in the building of America, which at the time of it's publication was celebrating her bicentennial. He mentions this plenty of times throughout.Lawrence talks about his latest discovery, the Semonski Sisters and chronicles the journey of how his organization trained six young girls from having no professional experience to television stars.

He also shares stories from the band's three week appearance at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, how he developed Sandi Griffiths into a solo singer and when Larry Hooper fell ill, who had to be off the show for a few years and his recovery and triumphant return.

It's a very heartwarming and inspirational book, one that stands the test of time. And maybe, just maybe, it will give guidance to anyone living through these current tough times.

From Hollywood, The Lawrence Welk Network presents....

ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY JB FUNKY HIMSELF

About Me

The blogmeister is also the webmaster behind the very successful Welk Musical Family.com. I have been a fan of Lawrence Welk since I was a youngster (not too long ago!) and have watched (and taped) his show every Saturday night on my local PBS station, WGTE and sometimes WBGU. My hometown and current residence is Toledo, Ohio and in recent years, I have attended many of their live concerts and had the chance to meet many of the wunnerful music makers as well.